Julia Walsh

Young Voices: During these Advent days, we pray about making room. We are working to prepare the way for God’s will in our lives, to prepare ourselves to unwrap and celebrate the deep meaning and joy of the Incarnation.

Young Voices: Aware of his creaturedom, St. Francis proclaimed a mutuality with all God's creation. In the face of the climate crisis, the message of his life is incredibly relevant today.

Young Voices: I hear a sentiment that the church (and forms of religious life) that they once knew are in a long winter, at rest. Scenes of life and familiar landscapes will sprout soon, they seem to say. If only they hold on to hope, then what they once knew will come back, with greater flourishing. 

Young Voices: The cross is an intersection of powerlessness and power. I wonder if there will ever be a day when every white Christian will imitate Jesus and fearlessly avoid the temptation to protect their own power.

Young Voices: Although walls of selfishness can block me from being my best self, solitude is an important element in my path to communion with God.

Young Voices: There are about a dozen of us in this circle at a local prison, praying with Advent Scriptures. Messages of waiting, anticipation, expectation are read aloud. Then we discuss, consider: What does it mean to be people of hope?

Young Voices: "I wondered if I was the only one in the room who felt like I was at worship. ... I wondered if anyone else noticed that we — poets and audience — were the body of Christ in communion with the great Creator."

Young Voices: In the Middle Ages, the idea of spiritual motherhood was quite popular among both women and men. St. Francis of Assisi described himself as a mother to his brothers, and Meister Eckhart wrote, "We are all meant to be mothers of God, for God always needs to be born."